If your thinking is controlled by your sinful self,
There is spiritual death!
Romans 8:6 ERV
Yes, the penalty for sinfulness is death! Not only the end of life on earth, but eternal separation from all Good. But God, He also set eternity in our heart (Ecclesiastes 3:11 NKJV). The Lord God He lives forever; therefore, He is able to save to the uttermost (completely, perfectly, finally, and for all time and eternity) those who come to Him.
Today a choice must be made to continually come to Him through His Son! Jesus is living, and making petition to God, interceding with Him and intervening for mankind (Hebrews 7:24-25 AMP). As He did and continues to protect mankind from facing Death a second time!
For Adam and his wife, the Lord God offered a sacrifice, a life for a life. God doesn’t just speak of His love, He demonstrates His love, for He made tunics of skin and clothed (Genesis 3:21) that forlorn couple, who exchanged the Truth of God for a lie.
How amazing! How awesome! The loving-kindness God has revealed to the world! The forgiveness of sin! Even for those who continue to worship and serve the creature rather than their Creator (Romans 1:25).
Through that one sin of Adam the punishment of death was brought to all people. How can we not show our gratitude in every circumstance by offering praise to the Lord, Who did something so good it makes all people right with God. Christ brings us true life. One man disobeyed God and many became sinners (Romans 5:18-19 ERV).
And since sin used death to rule us, God gave us more of His grace so that grace could rule by making us right with Him. God’s grace brings us eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 5:21 ERV).
Surely, God can and will remove the penalty and the condemnation for the guilt and shame and degradation of sin; however, consequence is both inevitable and applicable to the here-and-now and the eternal. Mankind personally experiences the egregious consequence of sin’s infamy – weak and dying bodies.
Praise God, because of His love and mercy and grace no one has to experience the eternal ramification for the infamous and degrading power of sin. For God has shown us a way to be made right with Him by placing our faith and trust in Jesus. This is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are!
Why? Everyone has sinned! We all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty of our sins (Romans 3:21-24 NLT). Because of our faith, Christ brings us into a place of undeserved privilege, the grace of God, where we stand and can confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing His glory.
When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. So let us always rejoice! Not just at church but praise God when we run into problems and trials! Yes, praise God, Who is the Holy One! He sits as King upon the praises of His people! (Psalm 22:3 ERV).
Praising God instead of complaining, helps us to develop endurance, which helps us to develop strength of character. And character strengthens our confident hope of salvation! And this hope will not lead to disappointment! For God dearly loves us, He has given us His Holy Spirit to fill our heart with His love (Romans 5:1-6 NLT).
God has given us so very much His heart, His Word, His Holy Spirit! This is why we should never give up! Our body may be dying, but our spirit is being renewed every day. Our present troubles are small compared to the glory they produce. A glory that vastly outweighs our troubles and will last forever! Therefore, don’t look at the troubles that can be seen! Rather, fix sight on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever! (2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NLT).
Yes, praise God! We don’t have to endure the degrading power of sin. Nor do we have to succumb to the power of sin – the enemy’s deception:
- Denial has been defined as
- “A false system of beliefs that are not based on reality,” and
- “A self-protecting behavior that keeps us from honestly facing the Truth”
- As children we learned different coping skills to deal with
- Pain
- Fear
- These coping systems worked for a time, but as the years passed
- They confused and clouded our view of the Truth
- As we grew, our perception of
- Ourselves
- Our expectations
- Of all those around us also grew
- This occurs because we retain our childish methods of coping
- Causing our perceptions of reality to become increasingly more
- Unrealistic
- Distorted
- Causing our perceptions of reality to become increasingly more
- Denial has turned to shame and guilt for some
- Denial is the “Pink Elephant” sitting in the middle of the living room
- No one in the family talks about it or
- Acknowledges it in any way
- Talking about it only makes it worse
- If we don’t talk about it
- It will go away
- Let’s pretend that it didn’t really happen
- If I tell the other person what they said hurt me
- I’m afraid they will leave me
- They really don’t drink that much
- I eat because you make me so mad
- If you didn’t nag me all the time, I wouldn’t….
THIS IS DENIAL
- During our first step we face and deal with our denial
- According to BOB CARTY LCSW, CADC, CCJP
- Denial is also an unconscious, psychological defense that activates certain thoughts and behaviors
- Psychological defenses are activated automatically when a person feels
- Threatened
- Experiences certain emotions especially
- FEAR
- GUILT
- SHAME
- Frequently, these reactions are triggered in the brain by the mere anticipation of a threat
- Not an actual threat
- Several words related to denial:
- Disbelief
- Distortions
- Deception
- Distractions
- Discrepancies
- Delusion
- Greater denial is needed to block out greater devastation caused
by circumstances- Lost jobs
- Divorces
- Incarcerations, etc.
- The more life seems out of control
- The more the need to “PROVE” to ourselves and others
- Everything is OK
- The more the need to “PROVE” to ourselves and others
The complete lesson on Denial can be found at
ForGodForeHisGlory.com
If we endure, we shall also reign with Christ.
If we deny and disown and reject Him,
He will also deny and disown and reject us!
2 Timothy 2:12 AMP